


The Sun and The Seagull

by VeryBoredAnon



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29323608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeryBoredAnon/pseuds/VeryBoredAnon
Summary: Reki and Langa got in trouble, and the only solutions are skateboarding and other skateboarders.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	The Sun and The Seagull

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic was based on chapter 31.1 of "Wasteful Days Of High School Girls".

In the late afternoon, en route to the skateboard park, Reki and Langa encountered a face board. It was painted to look like a sunny day on a beach, with a palm tree and a seagull. A face-sized hole had been cut out of the sun and the seagull.

"Does Canada have face boards too?" Reki questioned.

"Only at touristy areas," replied Langa. "Not on sidewalks like this."

"Wanna try this board?"

"Nah."

"Well, I want to. Take my photo!"

While Langa readied his phone's camera, Reki hurried behind the board and put his face within the sun's corona. He beamed brightly when Langa raised his phone.

"My camera lens can't focus on your face," stated Langa.

Reki took a step forward. "How about now?"

"Now, it's clear, although slightly shadowed."

"Slightly shadowed?"

"Like, the sun's shining on the board and that's casting a shadow over half your face. If I took a picture, you'll look like those half-sun, half-moon paintings."

"What if I do _this?!_ " Reki questioned before taking another step and plugging the hole with his face.

" _Perfect_ ," said Langa. The camera shutter sound effect rang repeatedly. "Okay, I'm done."

"Sweet! I wanna look!" Reki started to pull his head from the board. "Eh?"

"What's wrong, Reki?" Langa asked when he noticed Reki had yet to leave the board.

"I think—" Reki grunted as he to pushed the board while pulling his head back. "Maybe—" He pushed with both hands and a right foot, to no avail. "Langa, I'm stuck."

Langa was already approaching the face board. "I know," he said, putting his arms around Reki and his left foot on the board.

Reki and Langa's strained groans filled the empty street they were in. After twenty seconds of effort, the boys stopped to catch their breath. Then, Reki pressed both feet on the board and the effort resumed.

" _Reki_ ," Langa spoke breathlessly, "why is your face so _big?_ "

"Excuse me?!" Reki actually tried to turn around. He failed. "What kind of question is that?! Also, my face is normal!"

"No, I'm pretty sure yours is bigger than mine."

"Yeah?! What's your proof?!"

"You have a big mouth."

" _You_ have a big mouth! I've seen you eat poutine and a burger at the same time! By that logic, your face is pretty big too!"

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is!"

" _No, it's not._ "

" _Yes, it is!_ "

"Not."

"Is!"

" _Not_."

" _Is!_ "

Langa released Reki, stepped aside, and jammed his face into the other hole in the board. " _Not!_ " he exclaimed while glaring at Reki.

"Langa, are you crazy?! Now, you're stuck too!"

"No, I'm not." Langa tried to pull away. His face did not leave the hole. One awkward, silent moment later, Langa stated, "I'm gonna be a seagull for the rest of my life."

" _Langa_ ," Reki groaned, "why did you have to get stuck _too?_ "

"Obviously, this hole was meant for children since it's lower on the board..."

"You're still trying to prove you've got a smaller head?!"

Langa did not retort, silently going wide-eyed instead.

Reki instantly became concerned. "What's wrong, Langa?"

"I need to pee," answered Langa, in a quiet, anxious tone.

Reki went wide-eyed too. "For real?! Then, we gotta go!"

"Go where?"

"Dope Sketch! We can use my tools to chip our faces out."

"So, we have to walk together like this...?"

"If we combine our strength, this hunk of wood will budge. Come on, let's get crab-walking!"

The boys did their darnedest to walk in tandem in order to carry the weigh of the face board together. By the time they had rounded a corner ten feet from where the board initially was, nearly half an hour had passed.

"Reki," Langa gasped. "Stop—Stop for—"

Reki quit walking before Langa finished his sentence. "What's wrong?"

Langa did not answer immediately. He needed to catch his breath first. "I was close to wetting myself."

"Seriously?!"

"Moving this board is so tiring, I nearly lost the energy to keep the gates shut."

"And we haven't made much progress," Reki noted anxiously. "If we rested every now and then, it'll just increase the time spent like this under the hot sun."

"I'll run out of energy either way," Langa concluded. He sighed. "I wish I could see my phone, so I could call the manager to bring your tools here."

"Yeah..." Reki sighed too, his face deflating forlornly. For a moment, he was a gloomy sun. In the next, he abruptly brightened. "I've got an idea! We'll skate!"

Langa side-eyed Reki skeptically. "Huh? How?"

"We'll put this face board on our skateboards. Once it's got wheels, it should be easier and faster to move."

"That sounds workable. Let's do it."

Thus, the boys labored to unzip their skateboards from their bags that they cannot see, and then carefully drop them directly behind the face board. In preparation to lift it, the boys gripped the nearest edges of the face board.

"Ready?" Reki asked Langa, who nodded. "One, two, three— _up!_ "

The face board rose from the pavement and settled on the skateboards quite heavily. Thankfully, the boards did not break, and even more thankfully, the face board was able to move with half the effort the boys put earlier.

The boys crab-walking pilgrimage to Dope Sketch resumed, this time without breaks. By the next half an hour, they had made it to the skateboard park. There were a few people practicing in the park. They all froze when Reki and Langa arrived. One person, who was flying off a halfpipe, saw the moving face board, lost focus, and plummeted into the halfpipe. Another person was Miya, who promptly skated to the face board with his phone out.

"What kind of training regimen is this?" Miya inquired while photographing Reki and Langa's strained expressions.

"Haha," Reki laughed mirthlessly. "Can you skate over to Dope Sketch and get some tools from the manager? Just tell him what happened to us and he'll know what we need."

"Sure, one second." The second photo of the two included Miya doing the V sign and stickers that gave Reki and Langa dog ears, and Miya cat ears.

"Miya, be serious!" Reki shouted. "Langa _really_ needs to pee!"

Miya's face scrunched up in disgust. "Eww! TMI!" He then pocketed his phone and skated in the direction of Dope Sketch, leaving Reki and Langa in the dust.

"I guess we can just wait here now," Reki sighed out in relief and exhaustion.

"Reki."

"Mm?"

"You shouldn't've shouted."

"Shouted? _Oh_." Reki noticed the other skateboarders in the park snickering at him and Langa. "Sorry I told everyone you needed to pee," he whispered sheepishly.

"It's not _that_ ," said Langa, stressing on the last word in a rather whiny tone. "I'd been trying not to think about it so it won't bother me, but when you told Miya I really needed pee, it made me really, _really_ need to _pee!_ "

"Oh my god, hang in there, Langa! When Miya comes back, you can use the park's toilet! Ah, there he is!"

Miya skidded to halt in front of the board, carrying a grim expression on his face and nothing in his hands. "I couldn't find the manager. The shop was closed."

"Welp, there goes my dignity," Langa deadpanned.

"No, don't give up yet, Langa!" yelled Reki. "There's gotta be another way!"

"Do you have tools elsewhere?" asked Miya.

"I have some at home—" Reki tried to suggest.

Langa interrupted instantly, "I won't make it that far."

"Then... Then..." Reki stammered, his pupils swirling as he wracked his brains for a solution. His eyes stilled when the solution came. "Joe's restaurant!"

"Restaurant?" Miya's brow was furrowed in confusion at first, but his eyes widened in understanding a second later. "Oh! Because we can use butter or oil to get your faces out!"

"Not just that," said Reki. "Joe bakes, too, so I'm sure he has a cream cheese spreader. We can chip at the board with it."

Miya furrowed his brow again. "That's for _food_. What if he says no?"

"Then, we'll just use butter or oil," said Langa, rather loudly. "Can we _go_ now?"

"Yeah, of course, sorry!" Reki assured Langa. He turned to Miya. "Help us push."

Miya groaned. He swiftly wedged his skateboard under a corner of the face board. "If my board breaks, you're fixing it for free."

"'Kay, 'kay. Let's go."

Miya's participation increased the face board's speed. He also helped see behind Reki and Langa, and provide the weight needed to make certain turns. However, driving the heavy face board, which was already made heavier by the teenagers stuck to it, tired Miya out. Being embarrassed of pedestrians gawking and snickering at them was also rather tiring. By the time the three had arrived at Joe's restaurant, Miya had so little composure left, he would have barged into the restaurant had Reki not called out to him.

"Miya, wait!" Reki screamed, rather frantically.

"Why?" Miya asked breathlessly.

Reki repeatedly glanced at the restaurant's window. " _Look!_ "

Inside the restaurant, near the wall, there was a table for two. At that table sat Shadow (in florist mode) and his shop's manager. Only Shadow's face was visible, and he appeared quite happy.

"You'll kill the atmosphere if you just barged in," said Reki, "and Shadow would never drive for us again."

Joe (in chef mode) entered their view, placing dishes on the table with a cordial smile, which became awkward when he noticed the youths watching outside. Shadow noticed them too, and gained a similarly awkward grin. The manager started to turn around. Reki and Langa hastily crab-walked the face board out of sight, leaving only Miya, who had frozen in indecision, to find.

"That child is staring very intently," said the manager. She looked at Joe. "Perhaps he's hungry but cannot afford to dine here?"

"Hmm, I wonder?" Joe responded as casually as he could manage. "I should go check on him. Please, enjoy your cakes."

As soon as Joe was out of his restaurant, Miya debriefed him. "We need butter, oil, and a cream cheese spreader to get Reki and Langa's heads out of that face board."

"Please free Langa first!" Reki begged.

" _Please_ ," Langa wheezed.

Joe nodded. "Okay, but I'm not lending my cream cheese spreader." He returned to his restaurant.

" _Psst!_ Miya!" Reki whispered when Joe did not come out in two seconds. "How's Shadow's date going?"

"He looks like the type of idiot who merrily agrees with whatever their crush is saying," answered Miya.

"I asked you how the date was going, not to insult Shadow."

"I'm doing both. That's really what's going on in there."

"And what's going on _out here?_ " inquired Cherry Blossom (in calligrapher mode), seemingly materializing out of thin air to stand beside the face board.

"Cherr—" Reki blanched under Cherry's glower. "Sakurayashiki-san... We're waiting for Joe's help to get our faces out of this board."

Cherry's glower softened to a disdainful squint upon the face board. "Oh? Is he going to tear this board apart with his bare hands? I wouldn't be surprised."

Joe's face suddenly appeared opposite Cherry's, bearing a huge smirk. "You really think I'm that strong? Thanks."

"Too close!" Cherry yelped and opened his fan in front of his face. He noticed the bowl of yellowish liquid in Joe's hand. "...Is that urine?"

"It's olive oil, you creep!" Joe snapped.

"Urine..." Langa murmured below the adults, dead-eyed.

" _Langa!_ " Reki cried. "Joe! Free him! Quick!"

"Alright." Joe swirled the brush in the oil and knocked it on the bowl's rim. "Suck in your cheeks."

Langa did as instructed, making his lips tiny. Joe proceeded to press the brush between Langa's left cheek and the wood. The bristles were too big for such a tight gap. Ultimately, they simply spread out against Langa and the board.

"It's not going in," Miya pointed out.

"I'm sure the oil will if I press hard," said Joe, grinding down on the brush.

"Ow..." Langa groaned.

Joe maintained the pressure as he steadily spread the oil to Langa's chin. "Sorry, but you gotta bear with it. This is a 'no pain, no gain' situation, unless Kaoru feels like lending us his feather thin calligraphy brushes."

"I refuse!" Cherry exclaimed while holding thin calligraphy brushes between his fingers like he was imitating Wolverine. "Your brute force would _damage_ them!"

Reki gawked at the brushes. "You really carry that many brushes on you everywhere you go?"

Joe chuckled. "Yeah, it's so he can challenge me to a calligraphy match at any given moment."

"No, I carry them because it's my _job!_ ” Cherry seethed.

"Speaking of which," Miya piped up, "should you really be out here, Joe? Don't you have customers? And I didn't seen any other staff in the restaurant."

"Oh, don't worry. I just served their cake. I also left the teapot on their table, so I don't need to be there to refill their cups." Joe dipped the brush into the oil again, and left it there. "I’m done oiling. Try pulling out now."

The face board rattled noisily upon being slammed by Langa’s hands and feet, and he was pulling with so much strength, the board almost toppled back. Fortunately, Reki, Joe and Cherry were quick to steady it.

"Maybe we do need the cream cheese spreader," Miya mumbled from the sidelines, because Langa did not seem to be making any progress. His eyes widened when Langa’s face unexpectedly moved back a centimeter. "Whoa! It’s actually working!"

"Does this mean I can use less strength now? Because I’m getting really, _really_ tired..." said Langa, his voice and body going limp.

"AAAH! Langa’s losing strength!" Reki screamed.

"I’ll lend some of mine!" said Joe, raising a hand. The palm of that hand was placed on Langa’s head with a _ton_ of pressure.

"Ow- _owowowowowow!_ " said Langa under Joe’s hand.

"You look like you’re crushing his head, rather than helping to free him," Cherry remarked.

Right after Cherry said that, Langa’s head audibly popped out of the board, the face hole now taken up by Joe’s bicep.

Joe smirked at Cherry. "You were saying?"

"Hmph!" Cherry looked away. "You’re stupid if you think you look cool in that position."

"Excuse me," said Langa from the other side of the board, where his head was in the iron grip of a buff, disembodied arm. "Could you let me go?"

"Wow, that looks like something out of a horror movie," said Miya.

Joe promptly released Langa. "Sorry!"

Free at last, Langa stood up straight. He stretched his spine’s stiff joints loose, making lots of crackly noises, and exhaled in relief. Then, he twisted up his legs. "Is there a toilet nearby?" he inquired imploringly.

"Yeah, there’s one in my restaurant, at the left side of the counter," answered Joe.

Langa practically sprinted to the restaurant afterwards. He was in such a hurry, he body-slammed the front door because he could not spare a moment to see whether he should push or pull. Although he then opened the door more gently, he was soon sprinting again.

"So much for not barging in," Miya deadpanned.

"He’s been holding it in for over an hour. Forgive him," said Reki. "And can someone free me now? _I've_ been stuck like this for over an hour."

"In a second," Joe promised, beginning to rescind his arm.

Cherry shuddered as he watched Joe. "How _disturbing_."

"Oh, please. It can't be _that_ creepy," Joe spoke while waving his arm around.

Cherry flinched. "You brushed my leg! Are you trying to be the wall of arms in a haunted house?!"

A cheeky grin fluidly replaced the annoyed frown on Joe's face. He removed his whole arm from the board before abruptly reaching through again to grab Cherry's leg.

"What are you doing?!" Cherry shrieked.

"Being the wall of arms in a haunted house," replied Joe, coolly.

"What are you?! _Five?!_ " Cherry fumed. "You're being a terrible example to the children present!" He tucked his fan into his kimono sleeve and pulled out a calligraphy brush in the same movement. "Take this! _Counterattack!_ " He tickled Joe's hand with the brush.

Joe promptly retracted his arm, scratching the part of his hand Cherry tickled. "For the record, I only pulled out because I remembered I still need to help Reki."

"I can take over if you want," Langa offered, briskly but casually approaching the face board. "Shadow's date was wondering when will you be back so she could pay the bill."

"Seriously? Then, I'd better go." Joe passed Langa the bowl of oil. "Good luck!"

Langa's oiling method was similar to Joe's, albeit much weaker so Reki was in less pain than Langa. This meant Reki was in the state of mind to make observations.

"Joe left a palmprint on your forehead," said Reki, "and there's a red ring around your face. I'll probably have one, too, after this, huh?"

Langa shrugged. "I dunno. My hole was child-sized."

"You're still holding on to that argument?" Reki side-eyed Miya. "Langa thinks he's got a smaller face than me, but who here has the smallest face, Miya?"

Miya pointed at himself. "Me, duh."

"Phrased that wrongly. Me or Langa? Who has a smaller face?"

"Langa."

"No way!"

"I told you," Langa said calmly, with a hint of triumph, "your face is big."

"No, it's not!" Reki vehemently denied. "It probably just looks big right now because it's swollen from being stuck in this board!"

" _Excuses_ ," Langa uttered in English.

Despite not understanding, Reki glared at Langa. "What's that?"

"I said I'm done," Langa lied. "You can pull out now."

Reki used the same strategy as Langa—push both hands and feet on the board and pull his face back, at maximum power.

"Reki, if you puff your cheeks, you'll make your face wider," said Langa.

"Really? Then, what if I do _this?_ " Reki started gnashing his teeth instead.

"Your cheeks are still puffed," said Miya.

"Dang it!" Reki cursed. "Is this why I couldn't get out?!"

Miya prodded Reki in the cheek. "Just suck them in and pull."

Reki inhaled deeply, causing his cheeks to sink deeply too, and pulled again. He stopped after three seconds, saying, "It's impossible. Focusing on sucking in cheeks leaves me less energy to pull my head."

"In that case, how about I push your head out while Langa presses your cheeks in?" Miya suggested.

"Why are you holding up your elbow?" Reki questioned warily.

"I'll exert more force this way."

"With that small of a surface area, you'll just bruise my face!"

"Then, you and Langa will match." Miya began to approach Reki. "Let's do it!"

"No!" Reki cried, struggling and failing to move further from Miya. "Langa, help!"

Langa poked Reki's cheeks in. "I think Miya's on to something."

Reki sought help from above. " _Cherry! Save me!_ "

Cherry sighed. "You just need to narrow your face while exerting enough force to pull you head out, right? So, _this_ should do." He tickled Reki's nose with his calligraphy brush.

Reki's nose twitched, his face scrunched up, and he drew a sharp intake of breath. At the sight of that, Langa and Miya beat a hasty retreat from Reki, who proceeded to sneeze his head out of the board. He was back on feet the next second, raising his arms in celebration.

"I'm free!" Reki hurrahed. "Yay!"

"That so? Great!" said Joe, alerting everyone outside that he was back. "Ah! My customers just paid their bill, so I came here to see how you're doing." He ruffled the unoiled part of Reki's hair. "Looks like you never need the cream cheese spreader after all!"

Reki laughed. "Yeah! A calligraphy brush was enough!" He looked at the face board. "Now, what do we do with this?"

Five minutes later, the face board was tied to the roof of Shadow's car, and Shadow was driving Reki, Langa, and Miya to the street where the face board belonged. Because his manager refused his offer to be driven home, Shadow was unfortunately free to help the teens.

"Come to think of it," Reki spoke, in between relaying directions to Shadow, "why're you following, Miya? You weren't with us in the beginning."

"For a free ride home, of course," replied Miya, matter-of-factly.

"I told you I'm not your tax—" Shadow growled.

"We're here!" Reki piped up.

Shadow stomped the brakes and reached for the gearstick. However, his hand stopped right above the knob. "You sure this is the place?"

"Yeah—eh?" Reki blinked twice, to prove to himself he was seeing a new face board on the street.

It looked like the old one, except for a few differences. Namely, the palm tree was replaced with a coconut tree and a jumping dolphin was added. There were also two more holes—one in a coconut and the other the dolphin's face.

"Did they replace it while we were gone?" Langa wondered aloud.

"Great," Shadow said unhappily. "Now, I have to haul this thing to a trash collection site."

"Haha," Reki laughed guiltily. "Sorry about that."

Before they moved on, the four of them took a photo of them all trying out the new face board. Reki and Langa reprised their roles as the sun and seagull respectively, whereas Shadow became a coconut and Miya played the dolphin. No one's faces got stuck this time.

**Author's Note:**

> The original story was that Reki and Langa would drag the face board all the way to Dope Sketch and the manager would take a few photos before getting tools, but the idea of including all the main six skateboarders was too enticing. As a result, it took three days instead of one to finish writing this.


End file.
